Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez
Gulbenkian Orchestra / Pablo Sainz-Villegas / Giancarlo Guerrero
Performers
- Conductor
- Guitar
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Gulbenkian Orchestra
In 1962, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation decided to establish a permanent orchestral ensemble. Originally with only twelve musicians (strings and continuo) it was named “Orquestra de Câmara Gulbenkian”. This collective was successively enlarged and today the “Orquestra Gulbenkian” (the name it has adopted since 1971) has a permanent body of sixty instrumentalists, a number that can be expanded depending on the repertoire.
This structure allows the Gulbenkian Orchestra to interpret works from the Baroque and Classical periods, a significant part of 19th century orchestral literature and much of the music of the 20th century, including works belonging to the current repertoire of the traditional symphonic orchestras. In each season, the orchestra performs on a regular series of concerts at the Gulbenkian Grand Auditorium in Lisbon, where it has had the opportunity of working together with some of leading names of the world of music (conductors and soloists). It has also performed on numerous locations all over Portugal, in an effort to decentralize music and culture.
The orchestra has been constantly expanding its activities in the international level, performing in Europe, Asia Africa, and the Americas. In the recording field, Orquestra Gulbenkian is associated to labels as Philips, Deutsche Grammophon, Hyperion, Teldec, Erato, Adès, Nimbus, Lyrinx, Naïve and Pentatone, among others, and this activity was recognized with several international prizes.
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Giancarlo Guerrero
Conductor
Giancarlo Guerrero is a six-time GRAMMY® Award-winning conductor whose imaginative programming and “curatorial and interpretive creativity” (Chicago Tribune) draw out of his orchestras “exceptionally powerful and enchanting performances” (BBC Music Magazine). His contagious enthusiasm on the podium has led critics to praise his “clear and exacting beat and a gift for shifting between ferocity and tenderness” (San Francisco Chronicle) and his style that is “at once vigorous, passionate, and nuanced” (BachTrack).
2025 marks Guerrero’s first season as Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Grant Park Music Festival in Chicago. Guerrero also takes on the role of Music Director of Sarasota Orchestra in the 2025-26 season, becoming the seventh conductor to hold the appointment since the Orchestra’s founding in 1949.
Guerrero transitions this season to the position of Music Director Laureate with the Nashville Symphony after a sixteen-year tenure, during which he championed the works of prominent American composers through commissions, recordings, and world premieres. Under Guerrero’s direction, the Nashville Symphony commissioned and premiered nearly two dozen pieces – including works by Béla Fleck, Ben Folds, Jennifer Higdon, Hannibal Lokumbe, and Terry Riley – and released twenty-one commercial recordings, which have garnered thirteen GRAMMY® nominations and six GRAMMY® Awards across multiple categories. He also guided the creation of the Symphony’s biannual Composer Lab & Workshop alongside Aaron Jay Kernis.
In the 2025-26 season, Guerrero adds to his extensive discography with the Nashville Symphony with the release of Gabriela Lena Frank’s Conquest Requiem and a recording of concertos by Jennifer Higdon, Brad Warnaar, and Chick Corea, out in November and December 2025, respectively on Naxos American Classics. He also conducts the Symphony in three programs and a gala concert featuring Renée Fleming.
Guerrero’s guest appearances this season include engagements with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and the symphonies of Eugene and Grand Rapids, with international engagements including the Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin, Gulbenkian Orchestra in Lisbon, and the Romanian National Orchestra in Bucharest, where he conducts a concert performance of Shostakovich’s opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk.
In recent seasons, Guerrero has been seen with prominent North American orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Boston Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra, and those of Baltimore, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Detroit, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Montréal, Philadelphia, Seattle, Toronto, Vancouver, and Houston. Internationally, he has worked with the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra, Deutsche Radio Philharmonie in Saarbrücken, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, London Philharmonic, Orchestre National de France, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Netherlands Philharmonic, NDR Radiophilharmonie, Orquestra Sinfonica do Estado de São Paulo in Brazil, Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia, Frankfurt Opera and Museum Orchestra, and New Zealand Symphony as well as Sydney Symphony and Queensland Symphony in Australia.
Guerrero also conducts concerts with the NFM Wrocław Philharmonic this season, where he recently completed a six-season tenure as Music Director. With that orchestra, Guerrero made several recordings, including the Billboard chart-topping Bomsori: Violin on Stage on Deutsche Grammophon and albums of repertoire by Szymanowski, Brahms, Poulenc and Jongen.
Guerrero previously held posts as the Principal Guest Conductor of both The Cleveland Orchestra, Miami Residency and the Gulbenkian Symphony in Lisbon, Music Director of the Eugene Symphony, and Associate Conductor of the Minnesota Orchestra.
Born in Nicaragua, Guerrero immigrated during his childhood to Costa Rica, where he joined the local youth symphony. He studied percussion and conducting at Baylor University in Texas and earned his master’s degree in conducting at Northwestern. Given his beginnings in civic youth orchestras, Guerrero is particularly engaged with conducting training orchestras and has worked with the Curtis School of Music, Colburn School in Los Angeles, The Juilliard School, National Youth Orchestra (NYO2) and Yale Philharmonia, as well as with the Nashville Symphony’s Accelerando program, which provides an intensive music education to promising young students from diverse ethnic backgrounds.
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Pablo Sainz-Villegas
Guitar
Pablo Sainz-Villegas has been praised by the international press for his "virtuous and moving performance, with an irresistible exuberance and a range of bright colors" The New York Times.
Undoubtedly the most virtuoso guitarist of his generation, Pablo Sainz-Villegas has been acclaimed by the international press as the successor to Andrés Segovia and an ambassador of Spanish culture in the world. He is the first solo guitarist to perform at Carnegie Hall in New York since Maestro Andrés Segovia did so in 1983, the first guitarist to play with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra since 2001, and the first guitarist to perform with the Berliner Philharmoniker at the New Year's Eve Gala since 1983.
Since his debut with the New York Philharmonic under the baton of Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos at the Avery Fisher Hall in Lincoln Center, he has performed in over 40 countries and with orchestras such as the Israel Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra, and the National Orchestra of Spain, as well as in venues such as the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow, the Musikverein in Vienna, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing, and the Suntory Hall in Tokyo, among many others of equal importance and reputation.
His most notable milestones include the Princess of Asturias Awards Concert and his participation in the Metropolitan Opera Gala last May at the Palace of Versailles. His numerous performances at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid, which captivated more than 85,000 attendees, as well as concerts held in distinguished venues such as Grant Park in Chicago, the iconic Praça do Comércio in Lisbon, and the illustrious Hollywood Bowl, accompanied by the LA Philharmonic, have made him one of this generation’s most remarkable and prolific performers.
As a socially committed artist, he is the founder and driving force behind the non-profit association Strings in Common in the United States. He is also the creator and artistic director of the La Rioja Festival in Spain.
As an exclusive SONY Classical artist, he has released solo albums as well as duo recordings with tenor Plácido Domingo and cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Film composer John Williams has written two works for him for guitar: Rounds and Prayer for Peace.
Highlights of his 2025/2026 season include his return to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra with Maestro Riccardo Muti, the continuation of the premiere tour of Místico y Profano by Mexican composer Arturo Márquez with the Ottawa Symphony, Annapolis Symphony, and Pacific Symphony; the world premiere of a work for string quartet and guitar by Andrea Casarrubios with the Agarita Quartet, his new chamber project Spanish Night, which will premiere on a U.S. tour, and appearances with orchestras such as the Gulbenkian Orchestra, Orchestre de Québec, and Argovia Philharmonic, among others.
Pablo Sainz-Villegas was born in La Rioja, Spain, and has been living in the United States since 2001. For the 2025/26 season, Pablo wears TOMBLACK.
Programme
Joaquín Rodrigo
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